Transaction Strategy

ABSTRACT

A method of determining a transaction strategy using a processing system. The method includes, for a respective stock, determining a demand data representing a demand level (110), and supply data representing a supply level ( 100 ). The demand and supply data are used to determine a buying pressure indicator ( 120 ) using the demand and supply data and generate a representation of variations in the buying pressure indicator over a predetermined time period, the representation being used to determine transaction strategy ( 130 ).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for determininga transaction strategy, and in particular to determine stocktransactions based on levels of supply and demand.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

The reference to any prior art in this specification is not, and shouldnot be taken as, an acknowledgment or any form of suggestion that theprior art forms part of the common general knowledge.

The concepts of supply and demand determining the price of goods orcommodities in a free market is well known and understood. In itssimplest terms the more demand there is the higher the price will be andvice versa. Furthermore it is known to utilise current supply and demandnumbers for stocks in deciding whether stocks should be bought and sold.However, it is difficult to monitor the supply and demand for stockmanually.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

In a first broad form the present invention provides a method ofdetermining a transaction strategy, the method including, in aprocessing system and for a respective stock:

-   -   a) determining demand data representing a demand level;    -   b) determining supply data representing a supply level;    -   c) determining a buying pressure indicator using the demand and        supply data; and,    -   d) generating a representation of variations in the buying        pressure indicator over a predetermined time period, the        representation being used to determine transaction strategy.

Typically:

-   -   a) the demand level is indicative of at least one of:        -   i) the number of buyers; and,        -   ii) the number of shares wanted; and,    -   b) the supply level is indicative of at least one of:        -   i) the number of sellers; and,        -   ii) the number of shares offered.

Typically the method includes, in the processing system, receiving thedemand and supply data from a remote processing system via acommunications network.

Typically the representation includes a graph showing the buyingpressure indicator against time.

Typically the method of determining the buying pressure indicatorincludes:

-   -   a) determining, using the supply data, sell price offers;    -   b) modifying the supply levels in accordance with the sell price        offers;    -   c) determining, using the demand data, bid price offers;    -   d) modifying the supply levels in accordance with the bid price        offers; and,    -   e) calculating the buying indicator using the modified supply        and demand levels.

Typically the method includes:

-   -   a) comparing each sell price offer to a predetermined threshold        based on the current share price;    -   b) ignoring the respective supply level for sell price offers        falling outside the predetermined threshold;    -   c) comparing each bid price offer to a predetermined threshold        based on the current share price;    -   d) ignoring the respective demand level for bid price offers        falling outside the predetermined threshold.

Typically the method includes:

-   -   a) for each sell price offer:        -   i) determine a respective weighting for the sell price            offer;        -   ii) determine the supply level;        -   iii) modify the supply level using the respective weighting;            and,    -   b) for each bid price offer:        -   i) determine a respective weighting for the bid price offer;        -   ii) determine the demand level;        -   iii) modify the demand level using the respective weighting.

Typically the method includes determining the respective weighting inaccordance with a current stock price.

Typically the method includes determining the respective weighting inaccordance with the difference between the current sell price offer andat least one of the respective bid price offer and sell price.

Typically the buying pressure indicator is formed from at least one of:

-   -   a) the ratio of the number of buyers to the number of sellers;        and,    -   b) the ratio of the number of shares wanted to the number of        shares offered.

Typically the method includes, in the processing system:

-   -   a) comparing the buying pressure indicator to predetermined        criteria; and,    -   b) determining the transaction strategy using the results of the        comparison.

Typically the predetermined criteria include at least one of:

-   -   a) a predetermined buying pressure indicator;    -   b) a predetermined change of the buying pressure indicator; and,    -   c) a predetermined rate of change of the buying pressure        indicator.

Typically the transaction strategy can include at least one of:

-   -   a) buying stock; and,    -   b) selling stock.

In a second broad form the present invention provides a method ofdetermining a transaction strategy, the method including, in aprocessing system and for a respective stock:

-   -   a) determining a demand level;    -   b) determining a supply level;    -   c) determining a buying pressure indicator using the demand and        supply levels; and,    -   d) generating a representation of variations in the buying        pressure indicator over a predetermined time period, the        representation being used to determine transaction strategy.

In a third broad form the present invention provides a method ofdetermining a transaction strategy, the method including, in aprocessing system, and for a respective stock:

-   -   a) determining demand data representing a demand level;    -   b) determining supply data representing a supply level;    -   c) determining a buying pressure indicator using the demand and        supply data;    -   d) comparing the buying pressure indicator to predetermined        criteria; and,    -   e) generating a notification used to determine the transaction        strategy using the results of the comparison.

Typically the method includes generating a representation of variationsin the buying pressure indicator over a predetermined time period, therepresentation being used to determine transaction strategy.

In a fourth broad form the present invention provides a method ofdetermining a transaction strategy, the method including, in aprocessing system:

-   -   a) for each of a number of stocks;        -   i) determining demand data representing a demand level;        -   ii) determining supply data representing a supply level;            and,        -   iii) determining a buying pressure indicator using the            demand and supply data;    -   b) comparing each buying pressure indicator to respective        predetermined criteria; and,    -   c) generating a notification used to determine the transaction        strategy using the results of the comparison.

Typically the method includes generating a representation of variationsin the buying pressure indicator over a predetermined time period, therepresentation being used to determine transaction strategy.

The method of any broad form of the invention may be performed inaccordance with the method of any other broad form of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

An example of the present invention will now be described with referenceto the accompanying drawings, in which:-

FIG. 1 is a flow chart outlining a method of determining a transactionsstrategy for stock trading;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a processing system for use indetermining a transaction strategy;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a process of performing longitudinal analysisof a stock;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a representation generated by theprocessing system of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of a process of performing global analysis of astock; and,

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a network based system for determininga transaction strategy.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

An example of a process for monitoring stocks, and using this todetermine transaction strategies, will now be described with referenceto FIG. 1.

In particular, as shown in FIG. 1 the process generally includes at step100 determining a supply level, at step 110 determining a demand leveland at step 120 using this to determine a buyer pressure indicator. Aswill be described in more detail below, the buyer pressure indicator maybe determined in a number of ways, but in one example is a ratio of thenumber of shares wanted to the number of shares offered, and in a secondexample, is a ratio of the number of buyers to the number of sellers.

Once the buying pressure indicator is determined, at step 130 theprocess involves determining a transaction strategy, such as buying orselling stock, in accordance with the determined buyer pressureindicator.

In general, this process is performed by a processing system, therebyallowing the process to be substantially automated. An example of asuitable processing system is shown in FIG. 2. In this example, theprocessing system 10 includes a processor 20, a memory 21, aninput/output (I/O device) 22, such as a display and keyboard, and anexternal interface 23 coupled together via a bus 24. In use, theexternal interface 23 allows the processing system to be coupled toother processing systems, via a communications network or the like, aswill be described in more detail below, or to an external database 11,as shown.

In use, the processing system 10 is adapted to determine the supply anddemand levels from appropriate input data received either via theexternal interface 23, or the I/O device 22. The processing system 10can then automatically determine the buyer pressure indicator andprovide an indication of this to a user in a manner which allows theuser to determine a transaction strategy.

It will therefore be appreciated that the processing system may beformed from any form of processing system which is capable of receivingdata, performing appropriate calculation, and providing an outputnotification. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that the processingsystem may be any form of processing system suitably programmed toperform the content presentation and/or modification, as will bedescribed in more detail below. The processing system may therefore be asuitably programmed computer, lap-top, palm computer, PDA, server,suitable programmed mobile phone, or the like. Alternatively,specialised hardware or the like may be used.

In general, the analysis of the buyer pressure indicator can beperformed in a number of different ways depending on the circumstancesin which it is used. For example, analysis can be performed bymonitoring the buyer pressure indicator for a respective stock over apredetermined time period (hereinafter referred to as “longitudinalanalysis”) or by analysing a larger number of stocks at a given timeperiod (hereinafter referred to as “a global analysis”).

An example of the process for longitudinal analysis will now bedescribed with reference to FIG. 3. For the purpose of this example, itis assumed that the processing system 10 is executing applicationssoftware which causes the processing system 10 to generate a graphicaluser interface (GUI) on the display. This allows the user to interactwith the processing system using the I/O device 22 and thereby allowingthe processing system 10 to perform the process set out in FIG. 3.

At step 200 the user selects a particular stock of interest. This willtypically be achieved by selecting either a predetermined stock from adropdown list, or by providing an indication of the stock via the I/Odevice 22. At step 210 the user selects a time period of interest in asimilar manner. At step 220 the user optionally specifies predeterminedcriteria which are used in generating notifications as will be describedbelow.

At step 230 the processing system 10 operates to determine the supplyand demand levels for the selected stock over the selected time period.In this regard, the supply and demand levels will typically beundergoing constant variation throughout the time period as stock ispurchased and sold. As it is, changes in the relative supply and demandlevels, as well as the instantaneous levels that are of interest, in oneexample this is achieved by obtaining an indication of the supply anddemand levels at discrete times over the time period. This allows thebuying pressure indicator to be determined at the respective discretetimes and, hence, for changes in the buying pressure indicator to bedetermined as will be described in more detail below.

The provision of the supply and demand level data may be achieved in anyone of a number of ways such as asking the user to supply the data, orautomatically accessing predetermined data stored in the database 11, orobtaining the data from a remote processing system via a network. Thusfor example, this could involve downloading the data from a suitablesource via the Internet.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the frequencywith which the demand and supply levels are determined will depend on anumber of factors, such as the availability of the data from the stockmarket, the computational power of the processing system, and hence howfrequently the buying pressure indicator can be calculated, which can bea factor particularly if a large number of stocks are being monitoredsimultaneously.

At step 240 the processing system 10 operates to perform optionalmodification of the demand and supply levels. This is performed in orderto avoid to outlier demand and supply levels from unduly influencing thedetermined buyer pressure indicator.

In particular, buyers and sellers will generally propose prices for thetransaction of the respective stock. Thus a buyer will provide anindication of a price at which stock is to be purchased whereas a sellerwill indicate a sale price. It will be appreciated by a person skilledin the art that the value of these may differ substantially to thecurrent stock price and therefore represent an unrealistic transaction.Accordingly, as such transactions are unlikely to occur it is preferablethat they have reduced impact on the buyer pressure indicator.

This can be achieved in a number of manners. For example, any offers forsale, or requests for purchase for which the proposed transaction valuediffers from the current stock value by more than a predetermined amountcan be discounted. This process, which can be referred to as truncating,means that only proposed transactions whose price falls within apredetermined threshold range of the current stock value should be takeninto account.

Alternatively, the determined supply and demand levels can be weightedso as to alter the impact of transactions based on the differencebetween the proposed demand and supply values and the current shareprice. The manner in which the weighting is performed can vary dependingon the implementation, but in one example, this is achieved bydetermining the difference between the proposed transaction price andthe current stock price, and using this to generate a weighting which isthen applied to the demand or supply levels.

At step 250, the processing system 10 then determines a buyer pressureindicator by generating a ratio of the demand level to the supply level.This is achieved using the modified versions of the demand and supplylevels if these are provided.

In one example, the buying pressure indicator can be a simple ratiobased on the number of shares wanted and the number of shares offered.Alternatively however, it is also possible to determine a ratio takinginto account the number of buyers and sellers.

An example of this will now be described with respect to table 1 below,which sets out the data determined by the processing system 10 for oneexample, at one respective time instance. TABLE 1 # Buyers QTY BID #Sellers QTY ASK 1 10000 $1.00 1 2000 $1.01 2 5000 0.99 1 5000 $1.02 510000 0.98 2 1000 $1.03 4 2000 0.97 1 2000 $1.04 TOTALS 12 27000 5 10000

In the above example, the current share price is $1.00, and anytransactions that differ from the current share price by more than $0.05are ignored. Accordingly, in this case, the data in table 1 aboverepresents truncated supply and demand levels.

In any event, in this example, the buying pressure indicator includestwo ratios, namely a buying pressure ratio and a position pressureratio. These are determined as follows: $\begin{matrix}{{{Buying}\quad{pressure}\quad{ratio}} = {\pounds\quad{shares}\quad{on}\quad{the}\quad{buy}\quad{side}\text{/}}} \\{= {\pounds\quad{of}\quad{shares}\quad{on}\quad{the}\quad{sell}\quad{side}}} \\{= {27000\text{/}10000}} \\{= 2.7} \\{{{Position}\quad{pressure}\quad{ratio}} = {\pounds\quad{of}\quad{buyers}\text{/}\pounds\quad{of}\quad{sellers}}} \\{= {12\text{/}5}} \\{= 2.4}\end{matrix}$

At step 260 the processing system 10 compares the determined buyerpressure indicator to the predetermined criteria defined at step 220.

The predetermined criteria represent thresholds to which the processingsystem 10 compares the buyer pressure indicator. The thresholds will bebased on different parameters depending on the user inputs that mayinclude for example:

-   -   absolute buyer pressure indicator values;    -   relative buyer pressure indicator values;    -   differences between the buyer pressure indicator ratios;    -   rate of change of the buyer pressure indicator over a        predetermined time period minimum/maximum numbers of shares on        offer    -   absolute price thresholds    -   recent changes in share price

Depending on the results of the comparison, further action may berequired. If the processing system 10 determines no further action isrequired at step 270, the process returns to step 230 to determine thelatest demand and supply levels, and thereby repeat the process. If athreshold is exceeded (or fallen below), the processing system 10determines action is required at step 270.

Thus, for example, if the comparison determines that there has been arecent increase in the buyer pressure indicator, this is indicative ofan increase in the demand for the stock, which should cause acorresponding increase in share price. Accordingly, the processingsystem 10 may perform a further comparison, to determine if the expectedshare price increase has yet occurred. If not, this indicates that it isa good time to buy the shares as an increases in share price is to beexpected in the near future.

Alternatively, if the share price has increased, then this may indicatethat any expected increase has already occurred, and unless the buyingpressure indicator is maintained at a high level, there is no longer theincentive to buy shares in the respective stock.

It will therefore be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that thecomparison performed may be a multi-stage comparison, in which theresults of a first comparison trigger the processing system to performfurther comparisons.

Once the action has been determined and optionally performed, theprocessing system may determine that a notification is to be provided tothe user at step 280. The notification will indicate to the user whichthreshold comparison has returned a positive result allowing the user toselect an appropriate transaction strategy, such as buying or sellingstock at step 290.

As an alternative, or an additional mode of operation, once the buyerpressure indicator has been determined at step 250 the process can moveon to step 300 to generate a representation of the variation of thebuyer pressure indicator over time. This is typically done in agraphical form an example of which is shown in FIG. 4.

In this instance the graphical representation of the buyer pressureindicator, which in this example, shows both the buyer pressure andposition pressure ratios, assists the user is assessing whether aparticular transaction strategy should be used.

In this example, the ratios are calculated once a day. Typically howeverthe buying pressure indicator would be determined more regularly, suchas once an hour, depending on the level of information required by theuser, the availability of supply and demand level data and the like.Alternatively the buying pressure indicator could be generatedsubstantially in real time, such as by updating the indicator every fewseconds.

The rate of calculation may also be altered based on the results of thecomparison. Thus, for example, if the comparison indicates that therehas been a change in the buyer pressure indicator of more than apredetermined amount in a given time period, this may be indicative ofthe fact that a potentially major change in stock transaction behaviouris imminent. Accordingly, if this occurs, the processing system 10 canbe adapted to monitor the buying pressure index for the respective stockmore frequently. The process can then return to step 230 as shown todetermine further buyer and seller numbers. Thus, this process can beperformed constantly by the processing system 10 to allow monitoring tobe performed over long time periods, such as days, weeks, months or thelike.

The process may be performed in the background of an operating systemwith a notification being generated as required in the form of a pop-updialogue box or the like. In addition to this, or as an alternative, theprocessing system 10 can provide a window including the generatedrepresentation which is updated as required such that the user isconstantly presented with the representation of the latest time period.Thus the user may for example set the processing system up such that thegenerated representation shows the variations in buyer pressureindicator for the most recent 24 hours, or the like.

As mentioned above in addition to performing a longitudinal analysis itis also possible to perform global analysis in which a number ofdifferent stocks are measured simultaneously.

It will be appreciated that this process is substantially similar tothat described above but will in any event be described in more detailwith respect to FIG. 5. At step 400 the user selects a number of stocks.Again this may be achieved using a drop-down list on the GUI and it ispossible to have groups of pre-selected stocks, which can be monitored.These may consist of groups of related stocks such as stocks for banksor the like.

At step 410 corresponding predetermined criteria are selected. It willbe appreciated by a person skilled in the art that this may be performedautomatically by the processing system 10 based on the selected stock,or alternatively may be performed by having the user input appropriatecriteria values using the GUI.

At step 420 the processing system determines, for the next indicatedstock, the corresponding demand and supply levels.

At step 430 the demand and supply levels are optionally weighted beforea buying pressure indicator is determined at step 440. An indication ofthe indicator value is then stored in the database or memory 21 at step450, before being compared to the predetermined criteria at step 460.

At step 470 the processing system 10 determines if action is required,based on the results of the comparison, if not returns to step 420 todetermine the demand and supply levels for the next stock. Otherwise atstep 480 a notification is generated and a transaction strategy selectedaccordingly at step 490, before returning to step 420 to determine thedemand and supply levels for the next stock.

The comparison performed at step 470 may be performed in any one of anumber of ways. Thus, for example, the predetermined criteria may bebased solely on absolute values, representing for example rates ofchange of buyer pressure indicator or the like. Alternatively, in thisexample the predetermined criteria may apply to the buyer pressureindicator value determined for the group of stock collectively.

Thus, the processing system 10 may operate to rank the stocks in thegroup, with the order being determined using the relative buyer pressureindicator, with stocks having a higher buyer pressure indicator beingpreferentially purchased and stocks having a lower buyer pressureindicator being preferentially sold. This may be used for example torate which stocks within a portfolio should be purchased or sold.

As far as the selection of the transaction strategy is concerned, thismay be performed manually by an operator for example based onexperience. This is therefore a very subjective approach with theassessment of the strategy being left to the operator themselves.

Alternatively, the strategy may be selected or at least suggestedautomatically by the processing system 10. This can be performedautomatically in accordance with the results of the comparison and thesubsequently generated notification. In this instance the notificationmay therefore also indicate to the user the proposed strategy.

For example, if a respective stock has a buyer pressure indicatorthreshold set to the value “3”, if this value is exceeded, this mayindicate that the processing system 10 that stock is to be purchased,thereby generating appropriate notification to the user. Similarly, ifthe buyer pressure indicator falls below a threshold “1” this indicatesthat stock is to be sold.

Alternatively, the threshold may represent a predetermined rate ofchange of the buyer pressure indicator in which case the processingsystem 10 must be adapted to compare the current buyer pressureindicator to previous buyer pressure indicators thereby representing aform of limited longitudinal analysis.

In this particular process it will be appreciated that longitudinallyanalysis may be performed simultaneously on a number of differentstocks, which represents a combination of the processes described abovewith respect to FIGS. 3 and 5.

This process can be used to continually monitor the buying pressureindicator for all available stocks on a respective stockmarket, such asthe ASX, with the buying pressure indicator being stored in a databasefor later retrieval and review. This allows users to mine the databaseand monitor past trends of buying pressure indicators to determine, orupdate the predetermined criteria, as well as to assist in determiningtransaction strategies. It will be appreciated by a person skilled inthe art that this form of system may typically be provided in a networkenvironment such as that shown in FIG. 6. In particular, as shown inFIG. 6 architecture includes a base station 1 having the processingsystem 10 coupled to a database 11. The base station 1 is coupled to anumber of end stations 3 via the communications networks 2, 4.

In one example, the communications networks 2 represent internalnetworks within an organisation, such as a LAN (Local Area Network),with the communications network 4 being an external network such as theInternet. The communications networks 2, 4 may be any form of a networkdepending on the implementation and may be therefore be wired orwireless networks such as the GSM mobile phone network.

In this example, the end stations may be any form of a processing systemas appropriate to the specific architecture, and may therefore besimilar in form and function to the processing system 10.

It will therefore be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that theend stations 3, or the base station 1, communicate with each other andthereby provide the functionality described above. This can be performedin a number of manners such that the steps in the flow charts above canbe performed be any one or more of the end stations 3 and the basestation 1, either separately, or acting in conjunction.

Thus, for example, the end stations 3 may be adapted to obtain the buyerand seller numbers via the LANs 2 or the Internet 4 from the basestation 1. Determination of the buyer pressure indicators and theselection of associated strategies can then be performed locally withthe results being provided to a user of one of the end stations 3. Thusfor example, an organisation may include an end station 3 whichdetermines the buyer pressure indicators in accordance with themethodologies of FIGS. 3 or 5 and provide the results of this to usersof the end stations 3. Alternatively each end station 3 can perform thetask itself.

Alternatively, the buyer pressure indicators can be determined at thebase station 1 using the associated processing system 10 with theresults being transferred to the end stations 3.

In any event, it will be appreciated that this allows organisations toprovide buyer pressure indicators to analysts or the like.

Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that numerous variations andmodifications will become apparent. All such variations andmodifications which become apparent to persons skilled in the art,should be considered to fall within the spirit and scope that theinvention broadly appearing before described.

1. A method of determining a transaction strategy, the method including,in a processing system and for a respective stock: a) determining demanddata representing a demand level; b) determining supply datarepresenting a supply level; c) determining a buying pressure indicatorusing the demand and supply data, wherein the buying pressure indicatoris based on at least one of a difference and a comparison between: 1) aratio of the number of buyers to the number of sellers; and, 2) a ratioof the number of shares wanted to the number of shares offered; and, d)generating a representation of variations in the buying pressureindicator over a predetermined time period, the representation beingused to determine transaction strategy.
 2. A method according to claim1, wherein the method includes, in the processing system, receiving thedemand and supply data from a remote processing system via acommunications network.
 3. A method according to claim 1, wherein therepresentation includes a graph showing the buying pressure indicatoragainst time.
 4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the method ofdetermining the buying pressure indicator includes: a) determining,using the supply data, sell price offers; b) modifying the supply levelsin accordance with the sell price offers; c) determining, using thedemand data, bid price offers; d) modifying the supply levels inaccordance with the bid price offers; and, e) calculating the buyingindicator using the modified supply and demand levels.
 5. A methodaccording to claim 4, wherein the method includes: a) comparing eachsell price offer to a predetermined threshold based on the current shareprice; b) ignoring the respective supply level for sell price offersfalling outside the predetermined threshold; c) comparing each bid priceoffer to a predetermined threshold based on the current share price; d)ignoring the respective demand level for bid price offers fallingoutside the predetermined threshold.
 6. A method according to claim 4,wherein the method includes: a) for each sell price offer: i) determinea respective weighting for the sell price offer; ii) determine thesupply level; iii) modify the supply level using the respectiveweighting; and, b) for each bid price offer: i) determine a respectiveweighting for the bid price offer; ii) determine the demand level; iii)modify the demand level using the respective weighting.
 7. A methodaccording to claim 6, wherein the method includes determining therespective weighting in accordance with a current stock price.
 8. Amethod according to claim 7, wherein the method includes determining therespective weighting in accordance with the difference between thecurrent sell price offer and at least one of the respective bid priceoffer and sell price.
 9. A method according to claim 1, wherein themethod includes, in the processing system: a) comparing the buyingpressure indicator to predetermined criteria; and, b) determining thetransaction strategy using the results of the comparison.
 10. A methodaccording to claim 9, wherein the predetermined criteria include atleast one of: a) a predetermined buying pressure indicator; b) apredetermined change of the buying pressure indicator; and, c) apredetermined rate of change of the buying pressure indicator.
 11. Amethod according to claim 1, wherein the transaction strategy caninclude at least one of: a) buying stock; and, b) selling stock.
 12. Amethod of determining a transaction strategy, the method including, in aprocessing system and for a respective stock: a) determining a demandlevel; b) determining a supply level; c) determining a buying pressureindicator using the demand and supply levels, wherein the buyingpressure indicator is based on at least one of a difference and acomparison between: 1) a ratio of the number of buyers to the number ofsellers; and, 2) a ratio of the number of shares wanted to the number ofshares offered; and, d) generating a representation of variations in thebuying pressure indicator over a predetermined time period, therepresentation being used to determine transaction strategy. 13.(canceled)
 14. A method of determining a transaction strategy, themethod including, in a processing system and for a respective stock: a)determining demand data representing a demand level; b) determiningsupply data representing a supply level; c) determining a buyingpressure indicator using the demand and supply data, wherein the buyingpressure indicator is based on at least one of a difference and acomparison between: 1) a ratio of the number of buyers to the number ofsellers; and, 2) a ratio of the number of shares wanted to the number ofshares offered; and, d) comparing the buying pressure indicator topredetermined criteria; and, e) generating a notification used todetermine the transaction strategy using the results of the comparison.15. A method according to claim 14, wherein the method includesgenerating a representation of variations in the buying pressureindicator over a predetermined time period, the representation beingused to determine transaction strategy.
 16. (canceled)
 17. A method ofdetermining a transaction strategy, the method including, in aprocessing system: a) for each of a number of stocks; i) determiningdemand data representing a demand level; ii) determining supply datarepresenting a supply level; and, iii) determining a buying pressureindicator using the demand and supply data, wherein the buying pressureindicator is based on at least one of a difference and a comparisonbetween: 1) a ratio of the number of buyers to the number of sellers;and, 2) a ratio of the number of shares wanted to the number of sharesoffered; and, b) comparing each buying pressure indicator to respectivepredetermined criteria; and, c) generating a notification used todetermine the transaction strategy using the results of the comparison.18. A method according to claim 17, wherein the method includesgenerating a representation of variations in the buying pressureindicator over a predetermined time period, the representation beingused to determine transaction strategy.
 19. (canceled)
 20. A method ofdetermining a transaction strategy, the method including, in aprocessing system and for a respective stock: a) determining demand datarepresenting a demand level; b) determining supply data representing asupply level; c) determining a buying pressure indicator using thedemand and supply data, wherein the buying pressure indicator is formedfrom at least one of: 1) a ratio of the number of buyers to the numberof sellers; and, 2) a ratio of the number of shares wanted to the numberof shares offered; and, d) generating a representation of variations inthe buying pressure indicator over a predetermined time period, therepresentation being used to determine transaction strategy.
 21. Amethod of determining a transaction strategy, the method including, in aprocessing system and for a respective stock: a) determining a demandlevel; b) determining a supply level; c) determining a buying pressureindicator using the demand and supply levels, wherein the buyingpressure indicator is formed from at least one of: 1) a ratio of thenumber of buyers to the number of sellers; and, 2) a ratio of the numberof shares wanted to the number of shares offered; and, d) generating arepresentation of variations in the buying pressure indicator over apredetermined time period, the representation being used to determinetransaction strategy.
 22. A method of determining a transactionstrategy, the method including, in a processing system and for arespective stock: a) determining demand data representing a demandlevel; b) determining supply data representing a supply level; c)determining a buying pressure indicator using the demand and supplydata, wherein the buying pressure indicator is formed from at least oneof: 1) a ratio of the number of buyers to the number of sellers; and, 2)a ratio of the number of shares wanted to the number of shares offered;and, d) comparing the buying pressure indicator to predeterminedcriteria; and, e) generating a notification used to determine thetransaction strategy using the results of the comparison.
 23. A methodof determining a transaction strategy, the method including, in aprocessing system: a) for each of a number of stocks; i) determiningdemand data representing a demand level; ii) determining supply datarepresenting a supply level; and, iii) determining a buying pressureindicator using the demand and supply data, wherein the buying pressureindicator is formed from at least one of: 1) a ratio of the number ofbuyers to the number of sellers; and, 2) a ratio of the number of shareswanted to the number of shares offered; and, b) comparing each buyingpressure indicator to respective predetermined criteria; and, c)generating a notification used to determine the transaction strategyusing the results of the comparison.